The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, an RF coil and a method of controlling the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus.
For magnetic resonance imaging apparatuses, there is known a method by which magnetic resonance signals are excited with a plurality of coils such as phased array coils, and the excited magnetic resonance signals are received to create images by an image synthesizing method such as the sum-of-squares method or the SENSE method (see, for instance, JP-A No. 250776/2003). There is also known a method by one loop of an RF coil is split into a plurality of sub-loops, and the size of the RF coil is made changeable by receiving magnetic resonance signals with the loop before splitting or one of the sub-loops resulting from the splitting (see, for instance, JP-A No. 290168/2003).
Where transmission and reception are performed with a plurality of coils, unevenness in transmission results from differences in sensitivity distribution or efficiency among the coils. On the other hand, where transmission and reception are performed with a single coil, unevenness in transmission can be restrained, but no such technique as the SENSE method can be used.